Top 12 greenest and worst fuel users

By Pedro Arrais, Times Colonist

Originally published: June 13, 2012

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Mirror, mirror on the wall, which is the greenest vehicle of all?

According to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV tops this year’s list of the greenest cars in North America. This organization has been rating fuel-efficient cars for the past 14 years.

For the first time in eight years, the Mitsubishi all-electric car beat out the Honda Civic Natural Gas (a model not available in Canada) to take the crown.

The Civic is now tied with the Nissan Leaf and closely followed by the Toyota Prius.

This list differs from others because the researchers go beyond fuel efficiency in scoring vehicles.

Instead, each car is judged by a "green score" that takes into account tailpipe emissions, environmental impacts from the manufacturing process, natural gas extraction practices and how electricity is generated.

Here is their top dozen on the greenest list:

1. Mitsubishi i-MiEV

2. Toyota Prius C

3. Honda Civic Natural Gas

4. Nissan Leaf

5. Toyota Prius

6. Honda Insight

7. Smart ForTwo

8. Scion iQ

9. Honda Civic Hybrid

10. Lexus CT 200h

11. Toyota Camry Hybrid

12. Honda CR-Z

Along with the greenest, the researchers have also compiled a "meanest" list. These vehicles sit at the bottom of the list.

Here are the dirty dozen on the meanest list:

1. Chevrolet G3500/ GMC G3500 van

2. Ford E-250 van

3. Bugatti Veyron

4. Ford F-350 FFV

5. Ford F-250 FFV

6. Chevrolet K2500 Suburban/ GMC K2500 Yukon XL

7. Dodge Ram 2500 Mega Cab

8. Maybach 57

9. Mercedes-Benz G550

10. Ford F-150 Raptor

11. Bentley Mulsanne

12. Ford Expedition FFV/ Lincoln Navigator FFV

For more information on the organization and the methodology of how they score their vehicles, go to greenercars.org/highlights_greenest.htm.